"No, I am not going to get into that. I am not going to speculate on speculative questions, there is no interest to do that."
 
"it shows that ordinary Yugoslav men are more interested in fatherhood than fatherland."

"All I can say John is I have got very poor eyesight but I have got 20/20 hearing"

"Konrad, you may add something, ...not yet, I was predicting the imminent future."

"First of all, this is what I personally call our Teddy Roosevelt force. It's a force that we are designing to speak softly but to carry a big stick."

"We have to be prepared. We have to be ready. We are boy scouts, Jake, and the motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be Prepared". And that is exactly what we are doing."

"We are dealing with the Pied Piper of Hamlin here."

"It is not because we are sort of ego maniacs that want to have our name in the headlines."

"At my old college there was a logo up which I have always taken to heart. It said 'ad hocery is a mockery' and that applies to peacekeeping as well."

"If I were Mr. Karadzic I don't think I would be sleeping on my two ears at night."

"We are not the sort of an Alliance that changes horses in midstream."

"I always like to quote from Frederick the Great, my mentor here, he said diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments."

"Nick, let me make clear, as the General says, we have not targeted a cigarette factory, even if we may be sympathisers of the worldwide campaign against lung cancer, and it has been pointed out to me by a connoisseur of the Yugoslav Army that probably the worst thing that NATO could do to them would be to deprive them of their daily ration of cigarettes."

"We don't want to get into complicated mathematics, I wouldn't understand for a start."

"Your words, not mine."

"In other words, the claim of President Milosevic that he has defeated the UCK reminds me of Dr Johnston's dictum about second marriages - the triumph of hope over experience."

"We said right from the beginning when we started this campaign that it would not be an overnight wonder. This is not instant coffee."

"We are not partial, Neil, to partial withdrawals quite frankly."

"My point is that if you live next door to Al Capone and his gang, it is very difficult to concentrate on your kids' homework every night."

"We are not going to compromise on those because for us they are the minimum, not the maximum. You can compromise on a maximal position but not on a minimal one and they are the minimum as I have said so many times."

Greg Palkot, Fox News: Jamie, I know it's hard for you to comment on things that you don't exactly know.
Jamie Shea : Actually, Greg, it is extremely easy.

"This is the population of Namibia. It is more than the population of Brussels. It is about equivalent to the population of Denver in the United States, and in fact it is more than the population of Estonia, not far short of the total population of Kuwait. More than the population of Munich and slightly less than the population of San Francisco."

"All of this, i.e. the attempt to destroy the evidence, the belief that you can dig up the crime if you dig up the body, reminds me of the scene in Act II of Macbeth, where you remember that having committed his crime, Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth: "Go get water and wash this filthy witness from your hand". And Macbeth replies: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?" And Lady Macbeth replies: "Out damned spot, out I say, here's the smell of blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. What's done cannot be undone." And I would like to send those lines to the authorities in Belgrade so that they realise that no matter how much they may exhume mass graves, the Tribunal will be on to them in due course."

Jamie's Favourite Word

For a man who says so many words, it's not easy picking just one as your favourite. Jamie has chosen a word which satisfies the three main criteria: (a) not in common, everyday use, (b) has a pleasant ring to it, and (c) can be used instead of an easier word (which wouldn't need to be looked up in the dictionary). Without further ado...
 

"Of course once General Jackson is "sur place", on the spot, he will naturally have liaison contacts with all of the representatives of armed groups to work out precise modalities - my favourite word of the moment - or what you might call the essential specifics of how that demilitarisation is going to take place and how the international security force will oversee it."

Modalities Defined

modal a. (~ly). of mode or form as opp. to substance; (mus) of modes; (gram.) of or expressing mood or manner (~ (auxiliary) verbs, esp. can, may, shall, will, must); modality n. [L (foll.)]

                                                                            (The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary)

Modalities Facts and Figures

The word 'modalities' was used 34 times during the Daily Briefings. It was first used on April 25, and its last usage was on the June 14. The most number of usages is 6 on May 5, where it was used five times by Jamie, and once by Christopher Dickie from Newsweek (see below). Jamie also used 'modalities' five times on May 7. It was spoken on 17 different days, and on May 16 it was used by Jake Lynch from Sky News, although Jamie refused to use it in his answer.

Modalities Mayhem - May 5
 

Jamie Shea: "...NATO at the Washington summit by the way approved a political-military framework for the participation of our Partner countries in peace-keeping operations with a NATO core which gives us a certain number of procedures and modalities that we can use in associating other countries unless I am wrong but at least that is the way I read it. So we have to be strong on principle - NATO core, armed force, robust - but we can be flexible as to the details as to how that is put together. We are always flexible when it comes to modalities but we are always very strong on principles, that is the ingredient of success.

Christopher Dickey, Newsweek: In precisely that vein, if you get the robust force that you want, is there wiggle room on the other points? For instance, you call for the withdrawal of all of Milosevic's force but if Kosovo is going to remain part of the sovereign nation of Yugoslavia, will he be allowed for instance to keep border patrols in place or will NATO have to take that over - you see the line of reasoning? Will he be able to determine who the Yugoslav citizens are who return to Kosovo, for instance? How will those modalities be worked out and are those under discussion at this point?

Jamie Shea: Clearly, Christopher, the modalities are something that we are going to have to work out, for example the transitional authority, how is it going to be put together, who is going to run the transitional authority, there are details but the principles are more important than the details. If we are strong on the principles, the details will soon be decided. Are we going to compromise on those principles? No, because they are the minimum...

...The modalities relate to the timing of the deployment of an international security force, the modalities relate to the timing and the circumstances, the processing of refugee returns, for instance, the co-operation mechanisms between an international security force and a civilian administration, the setting up of law and order, lots of things that are still going to have to be worked out but we know that if we don't get the principles right, it would be like building a house with no foundations, it will collapse and so those principles are the foundation on which everything else depends must be built.

Remember: use 'modalities' in a sentence to amaze and confuse your friends (and the world's media).